“No.” She may have responded a little too vehemently. It seemed she’d unintentionally placed a hand on his leg just above his knee to hold him in place. She kept it there because touching him was like receiving a transfusion of pleasure. “Sally, Rufus, Dudley, and I were planning to start a movie. Will you please stay and watch it with us?” Say yes. Say yes.

“What movie?”

“The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but I’m willing to switch to something different. What type of shows do you like?”

“Sports and documentaries.”

Just when she’d pegged him as an action-thriller movie type of man, he’d surprised her. “I could go for a high-quality, informative documentary. Which one?”

“I’m watching Ken Burns’s documentary on World War Two.”

“I’m open to that.”

He looked skeptical. “You want to spend your Saturday night watching episodes in a seven-part series on a bloody and depressing war?”

“My dad was the history buff in our family. It would be edifying for me to learn new things.”

“Go ahead with the movie you picked out.”

“Only if you’ll watch it, too. I’ll make us vegan peanut butter chocolate chip cookie bars.” She interlaced her hands in front of her chest into a begging position.

“I’ll stay because I can’t say no to vegan cookie bars.”

They bantered while they mixed cookie dough. Once she slid the pan into the oven, she rounded up her pets and they all settled in for the movie.

“Is this a thirty-year-old TV?” Luke asked.

“Dad bought it for my college dorm room, so it’s twelve years old.”

“You’re watching a twelve-year-old thirty-two-inch TV that doesn’t have high def and can’t stream apps like Netflix?”

“I’m not interested in the latest technology. I typically only buy a new phone or computer when the old one gives up the ghost.”

“This TV is so small it’s making me think I need to schedule a visit with an optometrist.”

She laughed. “It’s not that bad!”

“Do you have to get up to manually change the channels?”

“Hold this.” She placed Sally on top of his lean torso. “Maybe she’ll distract you from my television’s shortcomings.”

She’d last watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants in middle school. She remembered liking it, but it turned out that watching the most girl movie of all girl movies with a very masculine man made the experience one hundred times better.

He muttered dry, funny comments through the whole thing. He poked fun at the guys’ haircuts, the romance plotline, her taste in movies. She reminded him that he was the one who’d chosen this option over an educational documentary.

They ate gooey cookie bars.

When a dog came on the screen, he said, “Knowing you, you’re probably now more interested in the dog’s story than any of the humans’ stories.”